Saturday, October 29, 2011

Craving for porridge at late night for supper ? A fan of Frog Porridge ? There is this restaurant near Air Itam that sells fresh frog porridge which I have found recently when I was patronizing the area, according to the name card given to me, they are a branch from Singapore (main branch). Other than the branch here, there is also another branch in Tanjung Tokong Food Court. Selection wise, was rather limited, aside of their main selling dish-fresh frog porridge, they do serve fried egg with preserved vegetables (菜脯), stir fried vegetables etc, which most of them could work well with porridge. Price ranging from Rm6 to Rm10, which is very affordable and economical to me. The business hour of this restaurant makes it a very suitable place for supper. Recommend this place to night owls whom always hunt for porridge/supper at late night.

Plain Porridge (Rm2). Customers can mix and match freely with any dishes they preferred. I was quite surprised to see the portion of the porridge since it was just Rm2. Nevertheless, the porridge was still very tasty even though there are nothing inside and was sizzling hot the time it was served.

Stir Fried Frog With Spring Onions (姜葱田鸡, Rm10 for one frog, Rm20 for two, and Rm28 for three frogs). It works well with the plain porridge, the sauce was perfect and possessed a very strong alcoholic flavor. The sauce complements well with the plain porridge and the texture of the frog was very tender. You can actually taste the freshness and juiciness in the frog well.

Frog Porridge (田鸡粥，Rm10 for one frog, Rm20 for two, and Rm28 for three frogs). If you prefer something light, then you should go for this instead of the Stir Fried Frog With Spring Onions. The taste was still very good indeed and the texture of the porridge was very smooth. The freshness and sweetness of the frogs have blended well into the porridge, ideally for supper.

Ratings:

Price: 9/10

Taste: 8.5/10

Parking: 7/10

Service: 6/10 (the waitress acted as if i owe her millions of dollars)

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Bored with all those food outlets in Queensbay Mall ? Looking for some restaurants with cozy environment near Bayan Baru area ? This could be an option for you. Taipei 101 offers taiwanese cuisine, from affordable bento (rice set), taiwanese noodles to special delicacies and iced pearl milk tea. The bento sets are very affordable and they are suitable as lunch meals or tea break. Special delicacies from Taiwan are also available, from the Iron-hard Preserved Egg (铁蛋), octopus-balls etc. Their special home-made chilies are not to be missed as well. The best part is there is no service charge at all. They have this delivery service as well, do give them a call and confirm if they will be delivering to your area.

From top to bottom, Honeydew Pearl Milk Tea (Rm3.90), Winter Melon Lemon Tea (Rm3.90) followed by Champagne Pearl Milk Tea (Rm3.90). All their pearl milk teas are made using flavorings which made it very common to me, nothing special.

Their special chilies, very spicy and aromatic, best to go with their noodles. Recommended for chili lovers.

Fried Octopus Noodles (Rm7.90). It comes in a set together with some fried octopus. The portion was very small but surprisingly, the texture of the noodles was very springy, it works best with the chilies. The vegetables were rather tasteless, some drizzles of soya sauce might be needed just to increase the flavor.

The Fried Octopus that comes together with the noodles. The octopus was rather a disappointment. Although the octopus were fried to perfection and they do maintained a crispy and crunchy texture but the taste was not something that I was expecting.

Taiwanese Pork Rice (Rm7.90). The set comes in a big portion, well it contains rice, a big portion of pork cutlet (topped with mayonnaise), hard boiled egg and Mapo Toufu (麻婆豆腐). The pork cutlet was very crispy indeed and it complements well with the mayonnaise. A very complete set for lunch.

As for the Taiwanese Pork Rice Set above, a bowl of soup will be provided as well. At least it would not be too dried.

Deep Fried Pork Ribs Rice (Rm7.90). According to my friend's opinion, the pork ribs were a bit disappointing as they were a bit tasteless. Texture wise, was decent.

Japanese Curry Chicken Rice (Rm10.90) The portion was very big indeed however, it would be ideal if they could be more generous in giving the Japanese curry. With the natural sweetness from potatoes, the curry was very delicious and it works well with the fried chicken. Some pickled vegetables were given as well, with a bit of sourness in the pickled vegetables, it refreshes the taste buds and you would not feel the oiliness in the fried chicken.

Their Neptune Mian Xian (面线, Rm7.80). One can opt to add more ingredients into this mee sua (chinese noodles that made from wheat flour), a wide variety of seafood ingredients is being offered, for instance, oysters, mushrooms, squids, jellyfish, abalone, mussels, prawns and scallops etc. The texture was very disappointing. I would prefer a smoother texture where by based on my understanding, Oyster Mee Sua should be something smooth and the Mi Sua should be shattered before the cooking process. The noodles should no longer be a whole. Some drizzles of vinegar and chili oil can be added based on your preference.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

**Traditional Home Of Dessert (汕头街四果汤) has moved its business back to Kimberley Street since August 2013.**

I am sure every Penangite should have heard of this famous dessert stall located at Kimberley Street --Traditional Home Of Dessert (汕头街四果汤). The owner has been running the business for more than few decades. The signature dessert will be, of course, their Si Koh Th'ng (四果汤) and almond dessert (杏仁茶), which is a mixture of ginko, lotus seeds, longan, red beans together with diluted sugar syrup. On the month of August, it marks another glorious moment for Traditional Home Of Dessert as they had finally opened a new branch that situated at Farlim. However, the prices were slightly marked up compared to the main outlet at Kimberley Street but the branch at Farlim does offer some special fried noodles and fried rice other than the dessert. Besides, some traditional biscuits and cookies are also being offered. Its definitely a place for you to have a light meal for high-tea or as supper.

Assorted traditional cookies from Ng Kee Cake House (伍记饼家) are also available here. Its very comfortable and satisfactory to have a bowl of dessert and a couple pieces of cookies. Some of the cookies available are also rarely seen in Penang, but I am sure for those who are at their 40's and 50's had seen them before.

One example for the uncommon cookies is Mo Luo Sou (摩啰酥, Rm1). Its a cookie with fluffy outer layer wrapped with sweet lotus seed paste. It was not too sweet, very special indeed.

Yam Cookies (Rm 1). Smooth and sweet yam paste being covered with crunchy and crispy pastry. You can even smell the buttery mild aroma from the cookies. The yam paste was superb, the yam flavor was very strong indeed, yet, the sweetness was not too much, just the right amount to satisfy my appetite.

Wedding Cookies (Rm1.50). This is another very traditional kind of gift exchange biscuits where by the marrying couple would have to send to their parents. There is another version of wedding cookies where they are red in color instead. The taste wise, was decent.

Almond Tea, the smooth and aromatic dessert has never failed to satisfy my wants towards dessert. Almond tea dessert has some positive effects on beauty too which suits ladies the most. However, almond tea dessert has its own unique flavor and smell, for those who dislike almond, it is advisable for you to choose other desserts instead.

It is always the best to enjoy a bowl of almond tea dessert with deep-fried dough strips (油炸鬼). Submerge the deep-fried dough strips under the almond tea to let it absorbs the flavor and soften the texture. Both of them do make a really good combination, its also a very traditional way of enjoying almond tea.

Red Bean Soup, a very simple and tasty dessert. The texture of the red beans was quite hard to my liking. I would have preferred those red beans with softer texture. The sweetness and taste were decent after all.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Finding cheap and quality western food has never been an easy job especially for us who are staying in Penang. There is this newly opened stall that serves western food in Paya Terubong area, it is not a restaurant with good ambiance nor the service is very impressive but its the quality and the price of the food that count. Sitting inside a coffee house --EQ Kopitiam, Bon Appetit offers cheap and affordable western food to their customers. Bon Appetit literally means "Enjoy Your Meal" in French. My dining experience was pretty satisfying indeed, the owner was very friendly and polite to his customers based on my observation. The drinks were inexpensive, parking can be fairly easy too. However, the time required for the preparation of food was quite long.

Soup of the day -- Mushroom Soup (Rm3). The mushroom soup was very smooth and creamy. It comes in a rather big portion too. The mushroom flavor was rather strong and the taste was quite distinctive from those who uses canned mushroom soup to serve as their soup of the day. Recommended.

For every bowl of mushroom soup, a piece of garlic bread will be provided as well. The garlic bread was very crispy indeed but it was decent only to my liking, I would prefer those garlic breads with fluffy and softer texture. The garlic and butter flavor were very strong too.

Grilled Chicken Chop (Rm7.50) As you can see, there were not any empty spaces left in the plate, every corner was filled with mouth-watering and appetizing side dishes. A generous amount of french fries, salad will be given, together with 2 slices of soft and fluffy buttered bread. The sauce was impressive indeed, more like its mushroom sauce. The chicken was grilled to perfection while the chicken still remains tender and juicy. Very nice indeed.

Grilled Lamb Chop (Rm9.50). The side dishes were pretty much similar to the grilled chicken chop but a small scoop of mint sauce was added. As we all knew, mint sauce and lamb chop will be a very good combination. I would not say that the lamb chop was tender but it was not very hard to cut/chew either, the texture was just nice. The portion was exceptionally large. Highly recommended.

The owner was very careful and thoughtful, he had prepared both the english version menu and the chinese version. Customers who can not understand english will find it useful or vice versa. As you can see, the prices are very affordable. The most expensive being steak (rm16) followed by salmon (Rm14). Where you can find such affordable and quality western food in Penang ?